Forum Link Code:[url=]R-any General Interrupter[/url]
This build is a basic interrupter skillbar that can be used and
modified for many situations, the main goal is to decrease both the
enemy group's healing and damage through the use of interruption.
Fights should be shorter with one of these on the team, taking some
pressure off the healers and often preventing as much damage as
they would normally heal.
Attributes and skills
- *The above attributes are a good baseline to work
with and can be adjusted as playstyle/preference
allows.
Hard interrupts (Prophecies/Nightfall):
Daze with cover conditions (Factions):
Spamming (Prophecies):
Equipment
- Any armor can be used though Druid's is best if energy is
lacking.
- A Recurve
Bow is best for interrupting in general with the faster flight
time though others can be used in combination with Read the
Wind.
- A Shortbow or Flatbow is recommended if
you are in need of a faster firing weapon to interrupt more often
(when target is dazed or using Choking Gas for example) or just as
a switchout weapon.
- For any build that inflicts a condition (like dazed or poison) a bow string of it's respective condition
(like silencing or
poisonous) is
suggested to lengthen the desired condition.
Usage
- The function of these builds depends heavily on the party and
environment, and thus the player should be observing his team as
well as the enemy the first few moments.
-
- If the team seems to be lacking the healing power needed, one
should go for interrupting high-damage enemy spells/skills
first.
- If the team seems to be lacking sheer power, go for healers
first.
- If the party is in need of specific enemies interrupted be
aware of any targets being called or requested by your team
leader.
- After using the build for a while and getting more comfortable
with interrupting, all of the above points should be able to be
achieved with the use of Distracting Shot. Disabling an enemy
healer's main heal (knowledge of common skill recharges always
helps) while also taking care of long-casting spells (perfect
example: Meteor
Shower or resurrection skills) is the main idea of
these builds.
- Often if you daze a target that is being attacked by others you
can then interrupt a second target with your remaining hard
interrupts (Savage/Distracting Shot).
- Dazing a caster boss will often shorten the time the condition
lasts but will spell doom for this enemy as they usually will only
have spells and will be defeated with minor to no resistance while
this effect is in place. As monk bosses in PvE seem to take the
longest to defeat this condition can save the party a lot of time
and effort in the long run if prepared for it though it is more
frequently removed in certain areas, cover conditions can help prevent this.
- If using Choking Gas and Practiced Stance it's often a good
idea to bring an IAS as you
want to fire as often as possible with every shot being a potential
interrupt. This will also interrupt in a small area and interrupt
while blinded (as the gas does the interrupting and not you hitting
the target) but it will not interrupt non-spell skills, thus a
minimum of one other hard interrupt is recommended to be brought
along.
Counters
- Any standard melee/ranger counters such as blindness, on
attack/hit hexes, and/or evasion/blocking (though variants listed
below can counter all of these downfalls).
- Energy denial.
Variants
Optional skills:
-
- Any other defensive/running stance to replace Whirling
Defense, best option is Dryder's Defenses, as it also gives
elemental armor though Lightning Reflexes can boost your
interrupt rate temporarily if the target is dazed or if you are
using Choking
Gas.
- A running stance to replace a skill for more survivability. Dodge/Zojun's Haste in
missions/quests to prevent a wipe or to get to a destination fast or escape if the
need arises.
- Natural
Stride can be substituted as a hybrid of a defensive stance and
a running stance to get a little of each of the two above
options.
- If attacking a dazed target or using Choking Gas, Needling Shot can
often shutdown a target if their health is below 50%, or using an
IAS (such as Bestial Fury/Tiger's Fury, Frenzy, Flurry, or others) can increase
your interrupt rate.
- Adding a pet to the build can then activate the interrupts for
you from the daze effect (if being used) allowing similar results
as above without relying on your party to target either of your two
targets (best with Broad Head Arrow or Concussion
Shot) or just to add more interrupts on the one dazed
target.
- Bringing hex removal skills
can be beneficial if expecting to run into hexes that will hinder
you like Empathy.
As a R/Me:
- Adding skills like Frustration or Arcane Conundrum can help increase the
chance of interrupting with slower cast times from the target or
even cause more damage to the target; if not added pressure.
- Replacing the Elite
skill with skills like Migraine or Psychic Instability can severely
hamper a caster as well when combined with daze and/or interrupting
attacks.
- Epidemic can help
spread conditions like daze, poison, crippled, and bleeding to more
than your primary target.
- Skills like Inspired Hex, Revealed Hex, or Hex Eater
Signet can help to remove hexes if you know that you will be
frequently encountering hexes that may hinder you in some way
without expending much, if any, energy in their use.
- A Mesmer's repertoire of skills may also add extra interrupting
options should your target be obstructed, evading, or otherwise
avoiding your interrupts. As these are not typically reduced in
cost with ranks of Expertise it is uncommon to have more than one
or two Mesmer interrupt skills and more common to use a signet at no cost (like Leech Signet or Signet of Disruption for example).
Interrupts in other builds:
- It is common to add a few interrupt skills like Distracting
Shot and/or Savage Shot (for common examples) to another build to
add interruption options. In this case it should be taken into
account as to what else one might be doing. If the user will be
spamming other skills or casting long spells the interrupts will
not be as useful as the user will be busy and the interrupt skills
wasted. Be sure to plan ahead when adding Interrupt skills to any build so as to make
use of them appropriately.
- Many times it is common to bring along one interrupt skill so
as to avoid that one large skill per battle (Giant Stomp, Meteor Shower, Wurm Siege, any kind
of resurrect skill, and so on) and it is usually a good idea
for such in many a situation as the user will often have a time and
place (if not a specific foe/skill) for that skill's use as opposed
to being occupied using other skills as above.
See also:
Ranger / Any
